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Report: A-C superdistricts don't hurt black voters

The Athens-Clarke Commission should remain intact, a committee appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson said Friday.

The committee recommended that the commission keep its superdistricts, two overlay districts that each include four regular districts covering half the county.

It found no proof that, as some African-American and Republican critics have suggested, superdistricts dilute minority voting strength.

While the nine committee members started the discussion a month ago with differing opinions, they said they agreed once they examined the facts.

“I feel that many of us who were not of the same mindset have now arrived at the same place,” Commissioner Kathy Hoard said.

Evidence the committee cited included redistricting expert Linda Meggers’ and Athens-Clarke Attorney Bill Berryman’s testimony that districts the commission approved in October do not violate the Voting Rights Act, which bans discriminatory political lines.

The committee’s report also cites voter-registration data showing that minority voters are leaving the Hancock Corridor, a traditionally black neighborhood, and moving throughout the county. In 9 of 10 districts, at least 30 percent of registered voters are nonwhite, compared to just three 15 years ago, giving minorities a stronger influence on election results.

In addition, the number of overall minorities registered to vote compared to whites is higher now than in 1996, the earliest year records were kept.

The proportion of nonwhite voters in the two superdistricts rose from 41 and 18 percent in 1996 to 44 and 32 percent, respectively, in 2010.

Six members of the bipartisan, biracial committee voted to approve the report. Three others did not attend the meeting Friday, but their presence wouldn’t have affected the outcome. Businessmen Ed Benson and Homer Wilson, who were not at the meeting today, agreed earlier to go along with the rest of the committee, said chairman John Jeffreys, a former Clarke County commissioner. Former mayor Gwen O’Looney helped create superdistricts during city-county unification in 1990 and defended the system from attacks in recent months, saying it gives constituents more representation.

The recommendation sets up a potential fight with Republican state legislators next month over the commission’s makeup. The legislature must approve city, county and school board districts after the once-a-decade census.

State Rep. Doug McKillip, R-Athens, reiterated his opposition to superdistricts.

It’s simply math, McKillip said — eliminating two superdistricts held by whites would boost the percentage held by blacks.

McKillip is pushing his own district map that he says would make it easier for African-Americans and Republicans to win commission seats. Other local Republican lawmakers say they’re undecided on which plan they’ll back when the session starts Jan. 9.

Complicating matters, the five-member delegation’s rules require that they agree when introducing local bills like district maps. McKillip said he’d be willing to waive that rule for redistricting, though.

“This is something I understand has to get done,” he said.

Gov. Nathan Deal must sign new commission districts by the end of January so the U.S. Justice Department can clear them under the Voting Rights Act in time for candidate qualifying in May.